The present invention relates to a stowable vehicle seat and, more particularly, to a stowable vehicle seat with improved operability.
Conventionally, stowable seats for automobile are known. There is available, for example, a technique in which—in a state in which a rear end part of a seat cushion constituting a vehicle seat is supported on a front side of a stowage recess (storage recess) in a vehicle body floor to be rotatable in a front and rear direction, and a seat back is folded over the seat cushion—the vehicle seat is rotated to the rear and stowed in the stowage recess.
That is to say, as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-82698 (“the '698 Application”), rotating shafts provided in the right and left sides of the rear end part of the seat cushion are supported by brackets provided in both edge parts at the right and left on the front side of the stowage recess so that the rear end part of the seat cushion is rotatable in the front and rear direction, whereby the seat is stowable in the stowage recess.
The technique described in the '698 Application has a disadvantage that although the setting (restoring) operation load of seat is reduced by the mounting of a spiral spring for urging the seat cushion in a setting direction (restoration rotating direction) in a support part, the operation load in the reverse rotating direction (stowage rotating direction) cannot be reduced.
Also, the technique has a disadvantage that unless a damping damper is mounted, it is difficult to achieve a sense of operation that gives a sense of security because the rotating speed at the time of restoration and stowage is high.